Wacky gadgets' place - cool gadgets for 2009

Pink computers are getting more and more popular

Vic — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:11:43 +0000

There’s one thing o noticed lately, smaller and more colorful computers are getting more and more popular. My explanation is pretty simple: more and more women and kids start using a mobile computer.

That’s why netbooks grew so much in the last years, as they offer reduced weight and are powerful enough to run the basic applications a regular user would run. And that’s why producers now offer their computer in bizarre colors, like magenta, cyan, pink, etc. Just take a look at the market 3 or 4 years ago. Most laptops were grey or black, with very few “escapes” from Sony or maybe Apple. But now…

On the other way, i find pink laptops and electronic devices in general annoying. If my girlfriend would want to buy such a thing, i’m pretty sure i would tell her a couple of “words”. It’s not like it would make any difference, but anyway

Also, i tend to see pink computers are getting even more diversified. They started as plain and simple, now producers offer their pink devices with various designs and patterns. Also, more and more campaigns are started around pink electronics, to attract more the feminine target.

And in some cases, pink computers are even cheaper than the classic black ones. Not much, but 5 to 10% is still a significant discount, and this year on Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales period i’m looking for even bigger discounts on such products.

Still i wonder, if any of my readers are women or girls, would you buy a pink laptop? I don’t know about others, but i for one associate pink computers with one word: “skanky”…

Gas leaf blowers. Are they really that noisy?

Vic — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:34:39 +0000

My old leaf blower is pretty noisy

There was a pretty nasty storm last night and my lawn looked like a mess it passed. That’s why this morning i decided I’d take out my leaf blower from the garage and give it a spin , making the back yard look a little more decent. Weird enough, this kind of annoyed one of my neighbors because i was doing too much noise with my tool.

Well, i must say i have a pretty old gas powered leaf blower and it’s not that silent. But heck, i didn’t even notice the sound, i use a pair of protecting ear muffs and my friends tell me I’m a little bit deaf anyway )

Still, after a short argue with my neighbor i continued my work promising I’ll try to get a new device till fall. Because i don’t want him to call the police for disturbing neighborhood’s silence or something.

So, i went online to look for such devices and i couldn’t find that many. There were some on eBay but the sellers were not trust worthy enough and i also found a site with best leaf blowers reviews. They claim they surf the web and gather the best choices they will find online in one place and then i could buy these products from Shops like Amazon, Buy.com etc via their site. They don’t have too many offers though but i reckon they’ll add more in the near future.

Anyway, i found something interesting enough, it’s a gas leaf blower called Troy Bilt with more features than i would need. It almost fits my budget of 100 bucks (it costs 105 with a big discount) and i can get it from Amazon, and i allready have an account on that site. Still, I’m not sure if this device will be any less noisy than my old one.

So, I’m asking you guys for advice. What should i do? Should i buy this product? I kind of like it and consider it a good choice. But how about the noise… Or, perhaps i should just ignore my neighbor and still use my old tool? Hmm, tough decision, what do you think?

What kind of GPS devices can you find on the market?

Vic — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:43:22 +0000

Do you want to know what kind of device you have to use in order to connect to the global localization satellites? I’ve made a detailed presentation about all types of GPS devices you can find on the market.

Dedicated GPS devices

When someone refers to the general term GPS (ex: I bought a GPS), he/she refers to a dedicated device to this function, which must have a receptor capable to communicate with the GPS satellites, through a built-in receptor. These are usually bigger equipments, that can be put rather in your car, on the windscreen or on board. Most of them have a car charger, and some of them even have a special antenna that can be fixed on the exterior, for a better reception of the satellites. A conclusive example for this group is Garmin nuvi 1360 or Mio C720b, both of them with a 4,3 inch screen.

It seems pretty difficult to carry it in your pocket, doesn’t it?

These equipments have been especially created for the terrestrial geographical location, and the big and tactile screen makes them really easy to use and to be observed in traffic, when you can’t really pay too much attention doing too many things at once.

Motorcycles GPS

What if you have a motorcycle? You can’t really mount something like that on your yoke, because for sure, that’s not quite a smart idea. But happily there’s a GPS for motorcycles too. Unfortunately, you don’t have too much options, because in Romania Garmin is the only one who has brought such equipments, and the Zumo 660 model is the latest one of them. These equipments are humidity-proof, windproof, shockproof and motor oil-proof and have more commands for your left hand so the right one never leaves the handlebar. Also, the menu has big icons, that you can touch even with your gloves on. Here is where you can find details about the other GPS equipments for motorcycles.

Sailing GPS

Obviously, there are also equipments for the time you leave the land and you get on a boat, barge or a yacht. Considering the budget and boat’s size, you can choose between a portable device, for example Ifinder Hunt (which especially helps you in sea hunting or land hunting – link) and one that’s more of a board processor, more exactly a chartplotter (this is how complex boat localization devices are called), for example Garmin GPSMAP 4210. This one has a 26,4 cm screen and a lot of functions that helps you sail, assisted of course by the GPS.

Devices with GPS function

What’s different from a dedicated GPS device? The GPS localization function for these equipments (PDAs, smartphones, mobile phones) is a secondary one. Any PDA or intelligent mobile phone can be used as a GPS receptor. Some of them even have a built-in GPS receptor, for example the new HTC Touch Pro2 or Mio A702M. Even though their design is totally different, considering the built-in maps, they both can catch as well the GPS satellite signal.

External Bluetooth devices with GPS function

Other equipments (mobiles or smartphones) can have the same function, but don’t have a built-in receptor. This doesn’t mean you can’t connect them separately. For example, HTC GPS Just Mobil is such a device, which once connected to a mobile or a smartphone has the ability to pick up GPS satellites.

But be aware! The mobile or the smartphone should have a preinstalled GPS software and maps in order for it to work properly. Nokia has created an equipment called Bluetooth GPS Module LD-4W, especially to transform Nokia in GPS navigators. As it’s name says, it can connect to the mobile through Bluetooth and is compatible with 50 Nokia mobiles.

Tracking with GPS devices

Last but not least, GPS is a smart way of tracking your goods. Cars, motorcycles, etc now have a hidden gps vehicle tracking sensor that really comes useful when they got stolen and you can find out very fast where is your car or bike.

But don’t hurry yet to buy such a receptor. At least not until you verify it’s compatibility with your mobile phone. Good luck!

Photo cameras – the basic guide

Vic — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:42:36 +0000

For a few years, digital photo cameras don’t represent a caprice anymore, but a gadget anyone can afford. Considering price is one of the main characteristics customers guide themselves when buying a photo camera and the producer’s offer is really vast, especially in the reduced price category, that’s why it is really important to know what parameters to look for, to make the right decision.

The parameters below are essential if you want to buy a mainstream or an entry level photo camera, these being the categories where producers hide important features and highlight the “popular” ones, which aren’t necessarily the essential ones for the camera’s performance.

Number of Megapixels

Megapixels are the characteristic of the photo sensor that will determine the image’s final resolution. For example, a 1000×1000 px picture means 1 MPx. The number of megapixels is determined by multiplying the horizontal resolution by the vertical one. The number of megapixels is one of the frequently used characteristics to compare two photo cameras, however it is also the worst way, because the image’s quality is mainly determined by the photo sensor’s size and the objective’s quality. Same as most cheap photo cameras have the same sensor dimension, means smaller and compact pixels on its surface, pixels that will share the same quantity of light that touches the sensor’s surface. A resolution bigger than 5-6 MPx is made only for professionals, so don’t get fooled by the 10 MPx offered at $100 – $120 .

The lens aperture (the objective’s opening, which determines the quantity of light that will touch the photo sensor)

Usually, for every photo camera or objective (if we’re talking about DSLR photo camera with interchangeable objectives) there are two aperture reports specified, one for the minimum focal length and another one for the maximum focal length. Reports look like f/x, x having values like 1,2, 2.8, 4, 5.6 etc. For the mainstream and entry level cameras, f/2.8 values are typical for the minimum focal length aperture (wide) and f/5.6, f/8 for the maximum focal length (telephoto). Higher values like f/2, f/1 indicate very bright objectives, that allow more clear photos in reduced luminosity conditions or at smaller ISO values.

Optical zoom

Regarding the zoom (how much can “we approach” this subject without physically moving) there must be made a difference between optical zoom (made by lens moving and focal length modification) and digital zoom (artificial enlargement of the photo, enlargement that can be made with a photo editor software.)

The only characteristic that matters for the zoom is the optical one. The bigger the zoom, the better the details of objects beyond. We must keep in mind that if the optical zoom is too big, it means an unprofessional photo objective, that will visibly distort geometrical characteristics of the photos made at extreme values (very wide or very telephoto position of the objective’s).

Charging

What’s also important is the way the camera recharges: with AA, AAA batteries or rechargeable batteries, different from one model to another. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages: with AA and AAA batteries, the autonomy is smaller but the advantage is that you can always carry a supply of one or two pairs. And, if you use rechargeable batteries, you’ll always have to take the battery recharger. In case of rechargeable batteries different from one model to another, the advantage is that of a bigger autonomy, but in time, their capacity decreases and they must be replaced. Here’s the disadvantage: bigger price compared to that of rechargeable batteries and reduced duration.

Storage media

A last criteria is the way photos are stored. Because on the market there are over 20 memory card types, you should also consider what format uses the camera you want to buy: the more popular the format, the bigger is the possibility to use it with other devices, plus the advantage of a smaller price per gigabyte. You should look for cameras that support one of the following formats: Secure Digital (SD), SDHC, mini SD, micro SD, mini SDHC and micro SDHC. Don’t forget that mini SD and micro SD can be used in SD slots using a converter, and micro SD and mini SDHC in SDHC slots, also using a converter. Although SD and SDHC cards look the same, the first ones can be used in SDHC slots, but not vice versa.

These are the most important characteristics you have to look for when you want to buy a mainstream or entry level photo camera, professional photo cameras being a little bit more complicated, therefore I will elaborate this subject in a future article.

Top digital photo printers – 3 good choices for every budget

Vic — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:13:09 +0000

Today we’re going to have a small post on digital photo printers . You must admit that it is much more pleasant to watch a photo album “in flesh and blood”, than on your PC. A printed photo gives a sentimental value to it. You’ll always be touched while regarding it and reading what’s written on its back, and you’ll be projecting yourself into that moment, one that belongs to you.

Digital photo printers - the easy way to get real photos

If before entering digital era, you had an apology for not going to developing centers, now, with a photo printer, you can have your own photo album very easily. In the next lines I’m going to suggest you a couple of photo printers for all budgets. For more details about each particular printer, you will have to read the dedicated articles.

Canon Selphy CP760- this is one of the best buy digital printer in the market, thanks to its price and decent features. In this post you can find out more about the Canon Selphy CP760.

HP A526- this one cost twice as much as the previous one, but it’s more compact and smarter: better printing resolution and way faster. So, i would reckon this is a good choice for the standard user. Here you can read more about the HP A526 .

Sony DPP-FP97 – this one is from the top notch category: design, functionality, speed, it has all you need. With an appropriate price tag of course. More details in this review of the Sony DPP-FP97 .

All in one, these photo printers are great “accessories” for your camera. They provide good quality photos and are meant for those unwilling to travel to the store (like me).

That’s all for today. I’ve tried to suggest you 3 photo printers that can fulfill the needs and demands of any user. Please share your thoughts in the comments area bellow.

Would you buy a cordless leaf blower?

Vic — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:21:45 +0000

I know that’s not the usual subject we reach here on GadgetRoad , but i was curious if you would ever buy a cordless leaf blower (electric sweeper). After-all, these tools can be considered everyday house accessories, especially during the fall season.

That bothers me because i wanted to buy such a device and i started searching the WEB for the best offers. I found a site with many products and price cuts on leaf blowers , but they had very few cordless versions. Also, they say that these cordless devices have quite a few inconvenient: limited operational time of just 30 minutes, limited power and high price. The last one might not be a problem, cause i found this Black & Decker NS118 on Amazon for just $70 . But the other two…

Anyway, i still want to buy it, but I’m not sure how good will it be. I reckon it will do just fine sweeping the deck or the step-ways, but will fail at blowing leafs and debriefs from the lawn. A gas powered blower might be better for that, but i hate the noise it makes and the smell of burned gas.

So, if any of you have such had a similar dilemma before, please help me with an advice or two. I really have to buy this device asap, cause price cuts for leaf blowers won’t stay that big for too long, as fall approaches.

Sony DPP-FP97 – top notch digital photo printer

Vic — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:01:27 +0000

When you need a digital printer, there are many options available on the market. Some good, some better and some the best. And the Sony DPP-FP97 is one of the last ones, cause it simply has everything you may need.

First of all, it’s pretty compact: 7.1 in x 5.4 in x 2.6 in and 2.6 lbs . It also looks very nice, with a stylish black finish and lots of buttons (as you can see in the images bellow).

Sony DPP FP97 - top notch digital photo printer

These buttons are not just there as a decoration, cause this Sony printer also has lots of functions and settings for image processing and printing, both automatic and manual. It has a 2.5″ LCD display on top so you can see the picture before printing it, but it also has a HDMI output so you can connect the printer to an LCD or Plasma if needed.

You can print images from a card or stick or even by sending them directly via Bluetooth. Printing speed is OK considering you get photo lab quality photos: 45 seconds for the maximum quality of a standard 4 x 6 inch pic.

So, as you can see, the Sony DPP-FP97 it’s top notch in its class. Unfortunately all these features come with a higher price tag, as this camera cost around $199 . The appropriate photo printer is also a little bit more expensive, as the standard 120 pics set will cost you $45 (you can get it here for $35 though, for a limited period of time).

But, after all this Sony DPP-F97 is the best. And since quality also comes with a higher price, we still consider it a very good digital premium photo printer that we’d love to have around.

HP A526 – fast photo printer with a decent price

Vic — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:44:28 +0000

If you’re looking for a digital photo printer faster and smarter than the Canon CP 760, then the HP A526 might be your choice.

It’s true that this HP A526 photo printer is not at all as good looking or as compact (it measures 227×116x137,4 mm). Personally, I don’t like its design, but it has some extras, that deserve to be noticed.

HP A526 - an ugly printer, but faast

First of all, it has a thermal inkjet printing technology. This means a faster printing process. A 4×6 inch picture will be printed in 39 seconds on draft print mode and in 50 seconds on normal print mode. At first sight, there’s no difference between this and the 80 seconds of the Canon printer, but if you have for example, 50 pictures to print, you’ll spend 25 more minutes.

Another advantage for ink jet printing, is that you can use more paper types, and HP has been taking care of that, producing all kinds of paper, and you’ll also find consumables everywhere. And these consumables will be cheaper too.

Another big advantage of HP Q8351A printer is that comes with a multi-format card reader, extremely useful if you want to skip the cable connecting phase. At this price, you even have a little 6,1 cm LCD, where you can see pictures before printing them.

All these extra features come with an increased price. But the HP A526 is still affordable, as it will cost around $139 on Amazon and can be at your door in just a couple of days.

Canon SELPHY CP760 – ultra-compact and affordable photo printer

Vic — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:00:16 +0000

Canon Selphy CP760 is one of the most accessible photo printers that can still be found in shops these days.

At only 7.9 x 3.3 x 5.6 inches , it’s extremelly compact and light. It can print on photographic paper with a maximum dimensions of 4×8 inches. The 300×300 dpi resolution is the standard for compact photo printers, and printing is made by sublimation toner cartridge.

Canon Cp760 - cheap can equal good quaility

Don’t think that your picture will look like the ones printed on regular printers. No, this is a photo printer and the quality of the finished photo is very good. But i takes time: a 4×6 inch picture (post card’s dimensions) will be printed in almost 80 seconds. Yes, that’s quite slow, because the special photo paper goes four times through the printing process. The first three times are for the three basic colors, and the last time, the photo is finished by adding an extra protector film.

When you pull the picture out of the printer, you can touch it and see that the color does not spot as you were used from the regular ink printers. Therefore, pictures last for a longer period of time. Canon Selphy CP760 has an USB connector, so you can plug it into your PC or in your photo camera. Also, it can print pictures directly from a stick or from a card.

You can find canon photo paper in almost any shop that sells photo cameras or printers. A three cartridge set enough for 108 photo papers costs approximately $30 . The Canon Selphy CP760 usually costs around $120, but you can get it on Amazon for just $40 for a limited period of time (not sure how long will the stocks last at this price).

What component consumes your laptop battery the most?

Vic — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:57:05 +0000

Have you ever asked yourself which components consume the most your laptop’s battery? I suppose it wasn’t one of your primordial questions, but the answer to this question, is actually useful: knowing what consumes the battery, you can increase the autonomy by not using that much those components or by setting manually their operating speed (if it’s the processor, RAM etc).

Well, hardware and software producers are preoccupied by this aspect, and that is why on Windows 7 developing team’s blog, has been published an article regarding the way the laptop’s battery is consumed and what components, software, drivers influences its autonomy.

The responsible components for the battery’s autonomy are the following:

LCD screen
Chipset
CPU
Graphics card
Hard disk
Network card (wireless or with wire)

This list is also influenced by component choosing , for example an on board graphics chipset consumes more than a normal chipset, but altogether the laptop has a bigger autonomy thanks to its lack of on board Graphics. The study does not cater for external devices which the users could connect to USB ports, Firewire, Express card etc. These are the ones that decrease more the autonomy of your laptop.

The conclusion is pretty simple: in order to have a big autonomy, you will need a big capacity battery, a screen with manually decreased luminosity, an efficient on-board graphs chipset, lots of RAM so it won’t be necessary to use the hard disk too much, a strong WiFi signal and the most important, you must run applications that won’t require too much your CPU or your Graphs card. And obviously, you must not connect external devices.

Touchless Infrared Automatic Trash Can

John Pope — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:10:42 +0000

If you think you’ve seen it all then you surely haven’t heard of the iTouchless Infrared Automatic Trash Can, a stainless steel 13 gallon trash can that opens automatically when you approach it. If you think about it, it makes sense: when you work in the kitchen you have your hands dirty and don’t want to touch lid to throw something inside the trash can.

iTouchless automatic trash can

The working principle is pretty simple: iTouchless uses an infrared sensor to detect movement up to 6 inches away and when it does the lid opens automatically. After no movement is detected (ie. your hand is away from the trash can), the lid closes by itself.

This is how iTouchless trash can works

If something goes wrong there are the traditional on/off switch and manual open/close lid buttons. Power to the iTouchless comes from 4 D sized batteries that will last up to a year.

Learn to convert video files with Super Video Converter

Vic — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:36:33 +0000

How many times did you need to convert a video file from one type to enother (DivX, Mpeg 4, MP4, flash, DVD, etc)? If it happened to you at least once, then you know how hard it is to find a good and easy software to help you. Not to mention codecs, that are a nightmare if you don’t have them already installed.

But don’t panic, there is a very simple way to convert video files. There is a free software, named Super Video Converter, which includes all necessary codecs and it’s produced by Eright Soft. I won’t get too much into the details, regarding the conversion process of a video file, and I’ll stick to how to use Super Video Converter.

Obviously, the first step is installation. Unfortunately, it’s also the most difficult, the download link being really “hidden” in the download webpage. I won’t let you search too much, so I’ll leave the direct link to the latest Super Video Converter version.

After installation, you’ll have to run the software, and the following screen will appear.

Super Video Converter main screen

Steps to follow:

select file format
select video codec
select audio codec
final video resolution
aspect ratio width/height
frames per second
bitrate (the bitrate multiplied by the number of seconds represents the final file dimension)
audio options
previous settings brief
list of files that will be converted (selection is made by Drag and Drop in the Super window)

Advanced options as the directory for the converted saved files, can be accessed from the contextual menu that you can see while right clicking on any spot on the Super window.

Depending on your CPU and the chosen settings (bitrate, codecs, fps etc) converting a video file can last at least its duration (1 video minute lasts around 1 minute to be converted), but unfortunately Super doesn’t give you an approximate conversion time, so you’ll just have to be patient.

But, at least now you know how to convert video files nice and easy. If you have any comments, don’t be shy and post them below.

Preview of the iPhone 3GS. Is it any good?

Vic — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:59:06 +0000

I’ve recently found out what the new iPhone 3GS is capable of.

First of all, it will appear the 32GB version, along with the 16GB one. The price will be 299 and 199$, associated with some monthly plans to fit. We don’t know yet how much it will cost without monthly plan and if they will be available this way. The 8GB version will still be available for a while for 99$ (but the 3G version, not the new one).

We know that the 3GS was realeased on June 19th and it’s expected to be available in stores now already.

iPhone 3GS - better on the inside, the same on the outside

The 3GS comes with the following new features:

S stands for “speed”. Because the new iPhone is theoretically faster, having twice as much more RAM (256 MB) and a stronger micrprocessor. Anyhow, the 3G iPhone was pretty fast, way above the competition as HTC Touch HD for example (running Windows Mobile), and the bigger speed can only be a good news. We’ll be waiting to compare it with its future big competitor, Nokia N97.
The 3GS iPhone has a new 3 MPx camera. It’s not a big innovation at all, considering that SE Satio, for example, will have a 12 MPx one, but it’s a an improvement for Apple. Besides the 3 MPx, the camera has now autofocus and a VGA capturing capacity at 30 fps.
As we were expecting, the 3GS has a HDSPA 7.2 Mpbs and a Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, but still no ADP2 (meaning you won’t be able to connect stereo buletooth headphones on it)
The design is identical with the previous version. But in order to follow up the ecological movement, they used “green” materials.
The new hardware includes a 3D graphical support, therefore we should see better games made for iPhone
The battery has been improved, its life expectancy being 20-40% longer, depending on how it’s been used (more details in the picture below)
Lots of new functions have been added, such as Copy+Paste, MMS (wow!), Voice Dialing, magnetometer and others
The 3GS has an OS 3.0 operating system and all of its advantages

One over the other, the 3GS iPhone is an upgraded 3G, that removes some of the previous model’s deficiencies. It will probably also be a success, because Apple will always know how to market its products and to attract new customers in its fan-club.

But, I for one am kind of reluctant in buying a 3GS for now. Because as any other Apple product, the 3GS is cool and interesting, a little too limited regarding some functions and probably over priced. But I might be mistaking. What do you think?

Best tips to extend your laptop’s battery life

Vic — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:32:26 +0000

If you’re the owner of a laptop, you’ve definitely got in the situation where you couldn’t find any mesh around and you needed a few more seconds to finish watching a movie or sending an e-mail. For you, what I have in mind writing this article is to point out a few simple and efficient methods that can lead to a significant growth of the autonomy of your laptop’s battery.

I’ve divided the advices in two categories: simple measures and a little more complicated ones, that however, bring a significant extend of duration between two successive battery recharges.

Simple measures to extend battery life:

Use a pair of headphones instead of the laptop’s speakers, because these ones consume much more current
Select an adequate energy conservation profile in Windows
Decrease screen’s luminosity as much as possible
Disable radio controllers that you don’t need. Ex: WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G
Disable ports you don’t need. Ex: serial/parallel port, Firewire port, fingerprint reader
Turn off the software that you don’t use
Don’t run software that intensively uses the notebook’s components. Ex: games, unpacker, audio/video convertors, web-pages with lots of flashes
Don’t use the peripherals such as :USB mouse, external hard-disks, USB sticks, Express Cards and any other type of peripheral
Use the latest versions of drivers for your system. These ones bring, besides additional functions and optimizations for the existing ones, especially current consumption
If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, a very good method of increasing the autonomy is to disable window animation at minimization/maximization, to disable transparency effects and also to disable the Aero interface

Advanced measures to prolongue battery autonomy

Modify the wireless network card driver settings
Modify the energy conservation profile in Windows
Buy more RAM to prevent the intense usage of the hard-disk
Use an undervolting software for CPU and frequency decrease
Use a decreasing software of video card functionality’s frequencies
Buy a supplementary battery, if your laptop supports one

Long-term advices

If the above-mentioned advices help you immediately, there are also other advices you can follow to assure a smaller deterioration of the battery on its whole functioning duration. It’s a known fact that battery autonomy decreases in time, because of its usage and aging. So, here are the advices:

Read the instructions regarding battery storage in case of sustained dis-usage.
Format the battery at least once a month (discharge it and recharge it completely) and try to always use the battery in complete cycles. (avoid to partially discharge battery and to start recharging it when the battery is not empty yet).
Use as often as you can the battery, don’t keep the laptop always in gear, at home and at the office.

That’s about it with these tips for extending laptop’s battery life. If you know other methods to increase the laptop’s/notebook’s autonomy, please write them down in the comment section. Also, if you have any questions regarding some of the above-mentioned advices, please, don’t be ashamed and leave a comment.

4 incredible value digital picture frames

John Pope — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:32:22 +0000

Are you a family guy or want to buy a nice gift for your friends moving to a new house? Maybe you should consider a digital picture frame, which you can fill with nice pictures took together on various occasions. I’m not going to go on and on about what a digital picture frame is but I thought I should mention how it works: you transfer/upload pictures to the digital frame and then you set up how you want to see them, one at a time till you choose the next or slide show mode, where pictures are displayed one after each other in ordered or random order.

That’s the easy part, understanding how it works. The difficult task is to choose one from the various models around there. Here’s where I want to help and below there’s a list with 4 digital photo frames that sell very well. I’ve limited myself only to brand names, as they tend to give better customer satisfaction than cheaper, but less reliable no name models.

1 – Sony DPF-D80 8-Inch LCD Digital Photo Frame

Sony DPF D80 Digital Picture Frame

It’s an 8 inch model with 4:3 aspect ratio and 800 x 600 pixels resolution. Pictures can be stored on 256 MB of internal memory plus what you choose to add via the included memory card slot accepting all major standards. The Sony DPF-D80 includes sensors for auto frame rotation and auto image rotation. It also features 10 slide show styles, 2 clock modes, calendar mode, and 2 index views

2 – Philips 7-Inch Digital Photo Frame

Philips 7-Inch Digital Photo Frame

Well, it’s not a true 7 inch photo frame because it only has a 6.5 inch viewable area, but it compensates with the 800 x 600 pixels resolution and 3:2 aspect ratio, better at displaying wide images. It only has 16 MB of internal memory, but it also has two Compact Flash card slots with can lead to much higher storage capacity.

What’s interesting about the Philips 7 inh Digital Photo frame is that it has basic photo editing capabilities: copy, delete, rotate, zoom, and black and white effect.

3 – Kodak EasyShare P720 Digital Picture Frame with Home Decor Kit

Kodak EasyShare P720 Digital Picture Frame with Home Decor Kit

This is a 7 inch digital picture frame with 16:9 aspect ratio. It feature KODAK Color Science which gives your pictures crisp details and vibrant colors, better than the original picture. The border can be changed as in the package Kodak includes two decorative mattes. You can store pictures on two Secure Digital SD card slots which offer plenty of room nowadays. KODAK EASYSHARE Software helps you upload picture only using drag and drop moves with your mouse.

4 – Samsung SPF-71E 7-Inch Digital Photo Frame

Samsung SPF-71E 7-Inch Digital Photo Frame

Samsung’s SPF-71E is not the best when it comes to resolution: 480 x 234, but it has a 7 inch diagonal, perfect for viewing pictures from a comfortable distance. Images can be saved into 120 MB of internal memory and then be displayed using automatic slide show effects. If you want a little more practicality you can choose a special clock display mode.

Nintendo DS Lite portable console: a better Nintendo DS

John Pope — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:34:51 +0000

Portable games consoles are a big hit of the past years, as teenagers are attracted to the idea of not having dead times while traveling from point A to point B. You might think that those consoles are not very advanced, but you’ll be very wrong, as both Sony and Nintendo have already released several versions which improve one upon the other.

One such portable games console is the Nintendo DS Lite, a 20% lighter version of the Nintendo DS. It features two screens, the lower one with embedded touchscreen technology. It has two slots, one for Nintendo DS games, one for Game Boy Advanced game packs.

You can choose a model that suits your style, available colors being: Metallic Rose, Light Cobalt, Onyx Black, Crimson, Metallic Silver. If that’s not enough for you you can find a lot of Nintendo DS Lite accessories including carrying cases, protection cases, cables, adaptors and so on.

Nintendo DS Lite in Onyx Black dress

Now about the games, they’re not what you know from the times of Donkey Kong and Super Mario. Thanks now to dual processors, 3D gaming on a portable console is possible. Oh, and portable doesn’t mean you have to rush to an outlet once a few hours, as the Nintendo’s DS Lite battery is rated for 19 hours of continuous play time.

One of the most interesting features of the DS Lite is the WiFi connection, which coupled with special games makes multi player and chat sessions possible.

Should i buy a netbook or not?

Vic — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:00:57 +0000

I’ve been wondering whether i should buy a netbook or not for quite a while now, as a replacement for my every day laptop that’s way too heavy to carry around (around 6 pounds). And i’m sure there’re many of you having the same problem as i have. That’s why i put together a couple of pros and cons of a normal everyday netbook.

The pros:

they’re small and light
they have good autonomy (2-5 hours)
they’re fairly inexpensive (300-500$)
they’re not heavy at all: around 2-3 pounds max
the latest ones have decent hardware and can even run Windows XP or Vista

The cons:

the hardware inside is still pretty slow
being so small, most of the netbooks are uncomfortable to use for a longer period of time (small screen, small keyboard, etc)
overall build quality and materials is low for the cheap-medium models

The good part is that netbooks are getting better. There are already a couple of 12″ models on the market and more to come. Those provide a good enough screen and keyboard layout without sacrificing portability.

And, by the end of this year, Intel is going to launch their new ultra low voltage architecture, the next ATOMs, based on the Nehalem technology. And this is scheduled to bring a big performance boost, though netbooks equipped with it will be quite expensive in their early months.

So, nowadays i find netbooks still not good enough for a savvy user. They’re good as a backup of your laptop or when you only need them for 1-2 hours a day (like when you’re traveling). But, if i were you, I’d wait till next year when netbooks will truly become mainstream and will be truly worth full.

GnG score keeper plus magnifier Golf accessories set

John Pope — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:11:20 +0000

We all know that golf is a game for calm men which want to enjoy playing outside, surrounded by grass, but also golf is a sport that helps make money, so it’s good to have accessories to help you better keep the score and adjust your swing by observing the situation on the ‘battlefield’. This is what the GnG Golf Accessories Set provides: an accurate score keeper and a magnifying monocular.

GnG Golf score keeper

The GnG Golf score keeper can keep track of a maximum of 4 players for a total of 18 holes plus it features a magnetic ball marker to better distinguis which ball belongs to whom. The GnG Golf score keeper is designed for one hand operation.

GnG golf magnifier monocular

The GnG Golf magnifier offers a 5X magnification glass for close up views for a good viewing range of 50 to 200 yards. The inside viewfinder has a reticle with markings for precision ranging. This is the perfect set for a passionate golfer

Golf Ball Finder glasses – one of the best offer on the market

Golf Ball Finder glasses – one of the best offer on the market

John Pope — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:56:41 +0000

If you like playing golf like I do, you know how stressful and pricey is to loose your special balls in the green all the time. There are of course solutions like GPS trackers but those solutions cost very much, much more than I’m willing to spend. Fear not, there’s an alternative, which is really cheap: the Golf Ball Finder glasses, a special pair of glasses whose only purpose is to find lost golf balls.

The Golf ball finder glasses with accessories

How the Golf Ball Finder glasses work is pretty simple: a special optical filter reduces grass and foliage, making the lost balls appear bright against the background. Also to protect your investment, the Golf Ball Finder glasses are delivered with a custom carrying case.

I haven’t tested them yet to see how good they are, but actual customers say they’re pretty good, especially considering the low price tag (~25$).

GnG score keeper plus magnifier Golf accessories set

Ninja Stealth Televizion Gadget: the remote you’ve been waiting for

John Pope — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:01:55 +0000

Do you like pranks or you like being in control of all television sets? There’s an answer to your prayers an it’s not even an expensive one: for a few bucks you can order the Ninja Remote Stealth Television Gadget which will allow you to control remotely about 500 brands of television sets.

Ninja Stealth Television Remote

You’ll never by annoyed by those people wanting to watch Oprah in a bar when you know the football game of your lifetime is on a different channel. All you have to do is take the Ninja Stealth Television Gadget out of your pocket and change the channel. The Ninja Stealth remote allows you also to change the volume, turn the television on and off or change the AV source.

You don’t have to worry about controlling the wrong television set, as you’ll have to point the Ninja Stealth Remote towards the device you want to manage. Ninja Stealth Televizion Gadget makes for a great gift as it comes with included batteries.

Buy the Ninja Remote Stealth Television Gadget

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